The Russian Spelling Rules Every Learner Needs to Know

In my opinion, Russian spelling is a breeze compared to many other languages.

The Cyrillic alphabet looks very different, but Russian is a phonetic language.

That means that once you learn the alphabet, you can pretty much pronounce most words just by looking at them.

However, there are a few fundamental spelling rules that you should be aware of. These rules explain why certain vowels or consonants appear where you don’t expect them.

In this guide, I’ll explain the most important Russian spelling rules in a way that’s easy to understand.

Learn these, and you’ll find reading and writing in Russian a lot easier.

The 7-letter spelling rule

This is probably the most important spelling rule in the entire language.

If you only learn one rule, make it this one.

The rule is simple:

Think of these seven letters as being ‘allergic’ to the letter ы. They don’t want to be next to it.

Here are some examples of this rule in action:

Notice how in книги (books), the plural ending is -и instead of -ы, because it follows the letter г.

Part two of the rule: a, у, and ю, я

There’s a second part to this rule that applies to a subset of those letters: ж, ч, ш, and щ.

After these four “hushing” or “sibilant” consonants, you write а (not я) and у (not ю).

Я хочу

Ya khochu

I want

чашка чая

chashka chaya

a cup of tea

In the word чашка (chashka), we write ча-, not чя-. Similarly, in the word хочу (khochu), you write -чу, not -чю.

The 5-letter spelling rule

This rule is a little more advanced, but it’s essential for getting your endings correct.

It involves the letters ж, ч, ш, щ, and ц.

Here’s the rule:

This rule is most common in noun and adjective endings.

Let’s look at an example with the word врач (doctor).

с врачо́м

s vrachom

with a doctor (stressed)

на́шем

nashem

our (unstressed)

In с врачом, the ending -ом is stressed, so we use о.

But in a word like нашем (our), the ending is unstressed, so we use е.

You’ll never see a word ending in an unstressed -ом after one of these letters.

Vowel reduction (how words sound vs. how they’re spelled)

This isn’t a spelling rule in the same way as the others, but it’s crucial for understanding the link between pronunciation and writing.

In Russian, vowels often change their sound when they aren’t stressed.

This is called vowel reduction.

The most common reductions are:

• Unstressed ‘о’ sounds like ‘а’.
• Unstressed ‘е’ and ‘я’ sound like ‘и’.

Let’s take the word for “milk”.

молоко

malako

milk

Even though it’s spelled with three о’s, only the last one is stressed.

The first two are unstressed, so they are pronounced like а. The pronunciation is ma-la-KO.

Here’s another example with ‘e’.

сестра

sistra

sister

The first е is unstressed, so it’s pronounced like и. The pronunciation is sis-TRA.

It’s vital to remember that the spelling does not change.

You still write молоко and сестра. Knowing this rule helps you spell words correctly even when they sound different from how you’d expect.

Voiced and devoiced consonants

This is another pronunciation rule that directly impacts how you hear and spell words.

In Russian, voiced consonants (like б, в, г, д, ж, з) become voiceless at the end of a word. They are pronounced as their voiceless counterparts (п, ф, к, т, ш, с).

Let’s look at an example.

хлеб

khleb

bread

Even though it’s spelled with a б at the end, it is pronounced as if it ends in a п (khlep).

друг

drug

friend

The word друг is spelled with a г, but it’s pronounced with a к sound at the end (druk).

Again, the spelling doesn’t change.

You must remember the “true” spelling of the word to write it correctly.

This is often a matter of memorizing the word or knowing a related form where the consonant is followed by a vowel (e.g., хлеба - khleba, where you can hear the б sound clearly).

You’ll pick these spelling rules up naturally over time

This seems head-wrecking, but it’s not.

These few rules govern thousands of words in Russian, but instead of trying to memorize them from a list, focus on noticing them when you read and listen.

Every time you see a word ending in -ги or -ки, you’re seeing the 7-letter rule in action. Every time you hear a word like спасибо and it sounds like spasiba, you’re hearing vowel reduction.

Your brain will start to internalize them automatically through repeated exposure and usage.

If I missed a key point, let me know below.

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